new girl - benny rodriguez

Part 9

We walked to the sandlot after breakfast and started playing. It was going good until it was Scotty's turn to bat. We didn't have a ball so Scotty went home to get one. He came back and hit it, far over the fence. We all cheered for him and he just stood there silently for a second. He ran to the fence and started shouting saying we needed to get the ball.

We all ran over to him, "Forget about it man, just get another ball." Benny said. "No, you don't understand." Scotty said. He looked like he was gonna cry. "Sure we do. You feel bad 'cause you belted a homer and now we can't play no more." Benny replied. "No, you don't understand, that wasn't my ball!" Scotty yelled. "What?" I asked. Benny looked at me confused. "What do you mean, that wasn't your ball?" Squints asked. Scotty looked at me than away from me, "It was my stepdad's." he said. "I stole it from his trophy room. It was a present or something. Somebody gave it to him. But we gotta get it back, he is gonna kill me." Scotty yelled. I glared at him. He couldn't be talking about the one he got signed. "Listen to me, Smalls. It's a matter of life and death." Squints said. "Where did your old man get that ball?" he asked. "What? I don't know some lady gave it to him." Scotty said. He couldn't be talking about..."Yeah, she even signed her name on it." I was right. I put my hand on my forehead. "Some lady named, Ruth. Baby Ruth." Scotty said. Everyone looked at him, "Babe Ruth?!"

All the boys ran up the fence and looked over. I walked slowly and glared at Scotty. He was a dead man walking. I climbed up the fence and sure enough, there the ball was, lying on the floor. I heard growling from somewhere. I hopped down and walked to Scotty, "Dad is gonna be mad." I said. "I know Im sorry," he said starting to tear up. Benny walked up behind us and put his hand on Scotty's shoulder, "Don't worry, we will get that ball." he said. "I have an idea," everyone looked at him. "We are gonna get a ball get some money." We all gathered money and went to the store buying a ball. "Give me a pen," Benny said. He got one and faked a signature. Everyone got all mad at him saying it was a horrible signature. He told Scotty to put the ball in the office, "It's too buy us some time idiots." he said. It was a good idea.

The next day we tried a bunch of different ways to get the ball. They all failed miserably. We all went home disappointed that night.